Dispensing apparatus



1 [III I I N mm UG Jan. 25, 1944. J. H. BREWER ETAL DISPENSING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 10, 1942 Patented Jan. 25, 1944 DISPENSING APPARATUS John H. Brewer and Harry Ellsworth Taylor, Baltimore, Md., assignors to Hynson, Westcott & Dunning, Incorporated, a corporation of.

Maryland Application October 10, 1942, Serial No. 461.588

4 Claims.

vide apparatus for delivering measured quantities of free flowing powdered or granular materials, such as sugar, salt and the like, at regular predetermined intervals. In experimenting with apparatus designed for this purpose a variety of dimculties have been encountered all of which have been eliminated in our apparatus which includes the following features:

(1) A hopper for the material which presents no sharp angles or corners at which the material may lodge and impede its free flow;

(2) A funnel which receives the material from the hopper and delivers it to the measuring unit, said funnel being provided with a member which flow of the material;

(3) A measuring unit having means for adlusting the size of the pocket which measures the charge of material to be delivered ateach op eration;

(4) A measuring unit which is cylindrical in shape and rotates in a cylindrical housing and which is tapered to prevent binding and insure the continued free rotation thereof, and

(5) Means for rotating the measuring unit at uniform intervals but at a non-uniform rate in each revolution so as to discharge a measured quantity of the material at regular intervals and at the same time facilitate the charging and discharging of the measuring unit.

' The foregoing and other features of the apembodiment of Referring to the accompanying. drawing; Fig, l is a side elevation of the dispensing unit Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical section of the dispensing mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2. and

Fig. 4 is a plan view of the measuring unit.

The complete apparatus illustrated consists of a rectangular housing I, suitably made of sheet iron and provided with a cover 2 and a hingedv door 3. Within the upper portion of the housin 8 is the hopper I of suitable capacity which may be filled by removing the cover 3. The wallsof hopper l converge to the circular discharge open- .ing 5 and as stated is made free of sharp comers or angles by joining four flat side walls by rounded corners.

' serves to prevent packing and irregularity of paratus will be described more fully in the following detailed description of an the invention.

with a portion of the side wall of the housing broken away to reveal the mechanism inside.

(Cl. 221-107) An object of the present invention is to prories the motor I. Motor l is of a known type capable of maintaining a predetermined constant speed which is determined by adjustment of a control knob (not shown) preferably located on the outside of the side wall of the housing. The motor drives the wheel 8 carrying the finger Q through the speed reducing gearing l0. Finger 9 suitably is provided witha rubber sleeve it where it engages the weighted arm l2.

The measuring unit device which receives the material from the hopper 4, segregates a measured quantity of it and discharges it, is mounted on the door 3 where it is accessible.by simply swinging the door to open position. This device consists of the broad-mouthed funnel l3, the charge measuring unit l4 and the discharge spout i5 which latter extends through the door 3. The upper end of the spout i 5 is flared to embrace the lower side of the measuring unit 14 and receive the material which it discharges.- The middle portion of the spout 15, where it passes through the door 3, is tubular and its lower end is troughshaped andflattened so that a receptacle such as an envelope which is to receive the measured quantity of the powdered or granular material readily may be applied.

The funnel i3 is provided with the bar i6 which extends across and slightly above the throateof the funnel and facilitates the movement, of the material from the hopper 3 to the measuring unit H, presumably by breaking the column of material extending from the measuring unit upward through the funnel and the hopper and preventing packing of the material in the throat of the funnel. I I i The measuring unit is mounted on the door 3 with the aid of the bracket I1 and consists of the cylindrical member 18 closed at its front end.

that is, the end adjacent the door 3, by the integral or permanent wall [9 having a. central circular opening 20 and at' its rear end by the removable plug 2| which is provided with a cen- 4 in horizontal cross section and is shaped to fit cured to the bracket I1 and in this way the measuring unit is supported upon the door 3.

. i Within the housing I is a bracket 6 which car- The lower side of the cylinder" is provided with an elongated opening 26 for the discharge of material into the spout l5.

Rotatably mounted within the cylinder I8 is a. second cylinder 21. The front end of cylinder 21 is closed by the integral or permanent wall 28 which carries the integral forwardly projecting internally threaded tubular member 29. The tubular member 29 fits and extends through the opening in the front wall IQ of the cylinder l8 and thus provides the front bearing for rotatably supporting the cylinder 21 within the cylinder l8. The rear end of cylinder 21 is closed by the screw plug which carries the rearwardly projecting shaft 3| which latter fits and extends through the opening 22 in the plug 2| and thus provides the rear bearing rotatably, supporting cylinder 21 within cylinder l8. The projecting end of shaft 3| carries the weighted arm I2. 7

The size of the chamber within the cylinder 21 may be-varied by movement of the plug 3| carried on the end of the shaft 32 which extends through the tubular member or sleeve 29. The shaft 32 carries the lock nut 33 and knurled head 34 for screwing it through the sleeve 29 and locking it in any desired position. The cylinder 21 has an opening which registers with openings 23 and 25 for filling and emptying the chamber. It will be observed that the cylinder 21 fits snugly within the cylinder l8 for about half of its length including that portion which contains the opening 35 whereas the remainder material and to give a sumciently accurate measure of the quantity of material delivered when the quantity is of the order of about 5 grams. The charges of material may be delivered into receptacles such as envelopes placed under the chute manually or automatically.

The invention is not concerned with the manner in which the, hopper 4 is kept supplied with material or the "manner in which the material discharged from the machine is packaged, and it is, of course, within the scope of the invention to alter the size of the apparatus to adapt it to handle different quantities of material, to modify the spout l5 or replace it by other means for the deliveryof the material and to substitute means other than the motor I for rotating the measuring device. Other changes in the machine within the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims will be apparent.

We claim:

1. Dispensing apparatus comprising a measuring unit, means for supplying powder to said measuring unit and means for receiving and delivering the powde discharged from said measuring unit, said measuring unit comprising a stationary housing which is circular in cross section and the axis of which is substantially horizontal, a rotary'member which is circular in cross section and is rotatable on its substantially horizontal axis within said housing; a chamber within said rotary 'member, an opening from said is tapered slightly. This expedient has been found to avoid the binding of cylinder 21 within cylinder l8 which binding was a frequent troublesome occurrence when cylinder 21 .was not tapered but snugly fitted cylinder 18 throughout its length.

The operation of the machine described above is as follows: The hopper 4 is filled, the control of motor I is set to operate at the desired speed, say 60 revolutions perminute, and the plug 3i adjusted to give the desired capacity in the chamber within the cylinder 21. As the motor rotates the rubber jacketed end II of finger 3 contacts the weighted arm l2 and raises it to top position at which the opening 35 in cylinder 21 is i; line with the opening 23 in cylinder l8 and thefinely divided material flows from the hopper 4 through the funnel l3 and passage 24 and fills the chamber. Then as the arm l2 passes the vertical position it falls to its bottom position, illustrated in Fig. 2, at which, opening 35 is in line with the opening 26 in cylinder l8 and the material in the chamber is discharged into .the

l5. The irregular rotary movement of thespout cylinder 21 so produced favors the complete filling and emptying of the chamber at each revolu-' tlon. On the up stroke of the arm l2 it moves relatively slowly so that the opening 35 communicates with the opening 23 and passage 24 for a sufficiently long time to permit complete filling of the chamber. arm 12 it moves ahead of the finger l l and comes to rest or'oscillates briefly while the opening 35 is in communication with opening 25 thereby permitting the material in the chamber to be completely discharged before the finger II On the down stroke of a catches up with and contacts the arm l2 and moves it and the cylinder 21 to a position at which communication between openings 35 and 26 is closed.

- The machine has been found to operate efll-.

ciently at speeds of the order of charges per minute with free flowing powdered or granular chamber through the surface of said rotary member and spaced from at least one end thereof, an upper opening in said housing adapted to communicate with said opening in said rotary member when the latter is in its uppermost position, a lower opening in said housing adapted to communicate with the opening in said rotary member in its lowermost. position, said rotary member fitting snugly within said housing over the length of the opening in said rotary member but being smaller than said housing beyond said opening, and said lower opening in said housing extending below the smaller portion of said rotary member.

2. Dispensing apparatus for finely divided solid material comprising a measuring member rotatably mounted on a substantially horizontal axis, said member having a chamber therein adapted to receive and to discharge finely divided solid material at its filling and discharge positions respectively, a casing surrounding said member and having a filling opening and a discharge opening which communicate with said chamber in its filling and discharge positions respectively, a substantially vertically disposed passage extending upwardly from said filling opening, said passage having a capacity at least equal to that of said chamber, means for continuously supplying finely divided material to said passage, and means for rotating said member about its axis from its discharge position to its filling position at a rate equal to its average angular velocity, said member being eccentrically weighted to cause it to be rotated by the force of gravity at a rate greater than its average angular velocity from its filling position to its discharge position.

3. Dispensing apparatus for finely divided solid material comprising a measuring member rotatably mounted on a'substantially horizontal axis, said member having a chamber therein adapted to receive and to discharge finely divided solid materialv at its filling and discharge positions,

respectively, a casing surrounding said member opening which communicate with said chamber in its filling and discharge positions respectively, a substantially vertically disposed passage extending upwardly from said filling opening, said passage having a capacity at least equal to that of said chamber, means comprising a funnel provided with a transverse bar extending across and -immediately above its throat for continuously to receive and to discharge finely divided solid material at its filling and discharge positions respectively, a casing surrounding said member and having a filling opening and a discharge opening which communicate with said chamber in its filling and discharge positions respectively, a substantially vertically disposed passage extending upwardly from said filling opening, said passage having a capacity at least equal to that of said chamber, means for continuously supplying finely divided material to said passage, and means for rotating said member about its axis from its discharge position to its filling position at a rate equal to its average angular velocity, said member being eccentrically weighted to cause it to be' rotated by the force of gravity at a rate greater than its average angular velocity from its filling position to its discharge position and said measuring member being in substantially powder-tight contact with the casing in a zone extending on eachside of said filling opening and clearing said casing in a region outside of said zone toward at least one end thereof sufiiciently to permit free movement of the finely divided solid material.

' JOHN H. BREWER.

HARRY ELLSWORTH TAYLOR. 

